CN115883010A

CN115883010A - Communication method, device and system

Info

Publication number: CN115883010A
Application number: CN202111156203.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 狐梦实; 于健; 淦明
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-09-29
Filing date: 2021-09-29
Publication date: 2023-03-31
Also published as: EP4398674A1; TW202315375A; US20240244470A1; TWI826014B; WO2023051286A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application discloses a communication method, a communication device and a communication system.A first communication device sends PPDU (protocol data Unit) comprising indication information and M link self-adaptive blocks to a second communication device, wherein the indication information indicates resources used for link self-adaptation, the M link self-adaptive blocks use different transmission parameters, the resources are used for transmitting the M link self-adaptive blocks, and the second communication device returns a feedback result determined according to measurement results corresponding to the M link self-adaptive blocks to the first communication device, so that the first communication device sends the PPDU used for transmitting data according to the feedback result. Therefore, two communication devices can complete link adaptation through one-time interaction without multiple interactions, and the link adaptation efficiency can be improved.

Description

Communication method, device and system

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of communication, in particular to a communication method, device and system.

Background

The link adaptive technique refers to a behavior of a system to adaptively adjust a transmission parameter of the system according to currently acquired channel information, so as to overcome or adapt to an influence caused by current channel change. Currently, in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), an Access Point (AP) may transmit using a value of a transmission parameter, and then may adjust the value of the transmission parameter according to information such as whether an Acknowledgement (ACK) frame is received for the transmission, and a packet error rate of the transmission. In the above method, it may need to perform multiple interactions to converge the transmission parameters, so that the link adaptation efficiency is reduced.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application discloses a communication method, a communication device and a communication system, which are used for improving the link self-adaption efficiency.

A first aspect discloses a communication method that may be applied to a first communication device and also to a module (e.g., a chip) in the first communication device. The following description will be given taking an example of application to the first communication apparatus. The first communication device may be an AP or a Station (STA). The communication method may include:

a first communication device sends a first physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU), where the PPDU includes indication information and M link adaptation blocks, the indication information indicates a resource used for link adaptation, the M link adaptation blocks use different transmission parameters, the resource is used for transmitting the M link adaptation blocks, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1; and the first communication equipment receives a feedback result, and the feedback result is determined according to the measurement results corresponding to the M link self-adaptive blocks.

In this embodiment of the present application, a first communication device may send multiple link adaptation blocks in one PPDU, where transmission parameters used by different link adaptation blocks are different, so that a second communication device that receives the PPDU may measure different transmission parameters at one time and may return a better feedback result according to the measurement result. Because two communication devices can complete link adaptation through one-time interaction without carrying out multiple interactions, the link adaptation efficiency can be improved. In addition, because the number of information transmission times is reduced, transmission resources can be saved. Further, since the PPDU indicates a resource for link adaptation, the second communication device may receive and measure on the indicated resource, may accurately receive a link adaptation block for link adaptation, and may improve measurement accuracy and reduce power consumption of the second communication device.

As a possible implementation, the communication method may further include:

and the first communication equipment sends the second PPDU according to the feedback result.

In this embodiment, after receiving the feedback result, the first communication device may send the second PPDU according to the feedback result, so that the second PPDU uses a suitable transmission parameter, thereby improving system performance.

As a possible implementation, the indication information may be carried in one or more of the following:

one or more of an index of a first bit, a first user field (userfield), a Punctured Channel Information field (Punctured Channel Information field) in a general signaling field (U-SIG), a Resource Unit (RU) allocation subfield (RU allocationsubfield), a bitmap (bitmap), and a Modulation Coding Scheme (MCS). The first bit may be a validation bit (validatabit) or a don't care bit. The bitmap may be carried in the U-SIG or the EHT-SIG, and the STA-ID included in the first user field is a specific STA Identifier (ID), and the MCS is not available in an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) transmission mode.

In the embodiment of the application, the information in the existing PPDU can be used for indicating the resources for link adaptation, the structure of the existing PPDU cannot be changed, and therefore the compatibility of the PPDU can be improved.

As a possible implementation, the bitmap may indicate whether the frequency bands indicated by the bits in the bitmap are used for link adaptation or data transmission.

In the embodiment of the present application, through the bitmap, not only the PPDU may be indicated for link adaptation, but also resources used for link adaptation and resources used for data transmission may be indicated. Therefore, multiple indications can be realized through one bitmap, and the information utilization rate can be improved.

As a possible implementation manner, in the case that the resource corresponds to an RU, the first user field is located in the first user field in the user field corresponding to the RU, and the user field corresponding to the RU is located in the content channel corresponding to the RU.

In this embodiment of the present application, since the first user field is located in the first user field in the user field corresponding to the RU, and the user field corresponding to the RU is located in the content channel corresponding to the RU, other user fields behind the first user field in the user field corresponding to the RU may be interpreted according to the user field for link adaptation, and it may be avoided to interpret the user field for data transmission as the user field for link adaptation, or interpret the user field for link adaptation as the user field for data transmission.

As a possible implementation, the first user field may further include one or more of spatial stream information, beamforming information, MCS information, feedback type mode information, measurement sequence information, resource allocation information, power information, and measurement accuracy information.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first user field may be used to indicate resources for link adaptation, and may further include common information of different users, so that resource utilization may be improved.

As a possible implementation manner, in a case that the resource corresponds to an RU, and the number of user fields corresponding to the RU is greater than 1, the number of second user fields corresponding to the RU is a difference between the number of user fields corresponding to the RU and the number of first user fields corresponding to the RU, and the STA-ID included in the second user fields is an STA-ID of a communication device for link adaptation.

In this embodiment of the present application, the user field corresponding to the communication device that is actually used for link adaptation in the PPDU is the second user field except the first user field in the user field corresponding to the RU. It should be understood that the specific STA-ID included in the first user field is not an STA-ID specified in the existing communication protocol to indicate a different type of communication device, and it is understood that the STA-ID is an STA-ID not defined in the existing protocol.

As a possible implementation, the transmission parameters include one or more of MCS, beamforming, measurement sequence, spatial stream and power.

In the embodiment of the application, the proper modulation and coding level can be obtained through MCS measurement, the proper beam direction can be obtained through beamforming measurement, the measurement accuracy and efficiency can be improved through the measurement sequence, the proper number of streams can be obtained through spatial stream measurement, and the proper transmission power can be obtained through power measurement.

The second aspect discloses a communication method that can be applied to the second communication apparatus and also to a module (e.g., a chip) in the second communication apparatus. The following description will be given taking an application to the second communication apparatus as an example. The second communication device may be an AP or a STA. The communication method may include:

the second communication device receives a first PPDU, wherein the first PPDU may include indication information and M link adaptation blocks, the indication information indicates resources used for link adaptation, the M link adaptation blocks use different transmission parameters, the resources are used for transmitting the M link adaptation blocks, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1;

and the second communication equipment sends a feedback result, and the feedback result is determined according to the measurement results corresponding to the M link self-adaptive blocks.

In the embodiment of the present application, after receiving the PPDU for link adaptation, the second communication device may measure different transmission parameters at one time, and may return a better feedback result according to the measurement result. Because two communication devices can complete link adaptation through one-time interaction without carrying out multiple interactions, the link adaptation efficiency can be improved. In addition, because the number of information transmission times is reduced, transmission resources can be saved. Further, since the PPDU indicates a resource for link adaptation, the second communication device may receive and measure on the indicated resource, may accurately receive a link adaptation block for link adaptation, and may improve measurement accuracy and reduce power consumption of the second communication device.

As a possible implementation, the communication method may further include:

the second communication device measures the M link adaptive blocks through the resource;

and the second communication equipment determines a feedback result according to the measurement result.

In this embodiment of the present application, the second communication device may first measure the M link adaptive blocks, and then may determine the feedback result according to the measurement result, so as to ensure that the fed back transmission parameter is a transmission parameter with a better effect, so that the first communication device may subsequently use the feedback result to send the PPDU, thereby improving the system performance.

one or more of a first bit, a first user field, a punctured channel information field in the U-SIG, an RU allocation subfield, a bitmap, and an index of the MCS. The first bit may be a verification bit or a don't care bit. The bitmap may be carried in the U-SIG or the EHT-SIG, the STA-ID included in the first user field is a specific STA-ID, and the MCS is not available in the OFDMA transmission mode.

In the embodiment of the present application, through the bitmap, not only the PPDU may be indicated for link adaptation, but also resources for link adaptation and resources for data transmission may be indicated. Therefore, multiple indications can be realized through one bitmap, and the information utilization rate can be improved.

As one possible implementation, in the case of a resource corresponding to an RU, the first user field is located in the first of the user fields corresponding to that RU, which is located in the content channel corresponding to that RU.

In the embodiment of the present application, since the first user field is located in the first user field in the user fields corresponding to the RU, and the user field corresponding to the RU is located in the content channel corresponding to the RU, other user fields behind the first user field in the user fields corresponding to the RU may be interpreted according to the user field for link adaptation, and it may be avoided to interpret the user field for data transmission as the user field for link adaptation, or interpret the user field for link adaptation as the user field for data transmission.

As a possible implementation manner, in a case that the resource corresponds to an RU, and the number of user fields corresponding to the RU is greater than 1, the number of second user fields corresponding to the RU is a difference between the number of user fields corresponding to the RU and the number of first user fields corresponding to the RU, and the STA-ID included in the second user field is an STA-ID of the communication device for link adaptation.

In this embodiment of the present application, the user field corresponding to the communication device that is actually used for link adaptation in the PPDU is the second user field except the first user field in the user field corresponding to the RU. It should be understood that the first user field includes a particular STA-ID that is not the STA-ID corresponding to the communication device.

A third aspect discloses a communication method that may be applied to a first communication device and also to a module (e.g., a chip) in the first communication device. The following description will be given taking an example of application to the first communication apparatus. The first communication device may be an AP or a STA. The communication method may include:

the first communication equipment sends a first frame, wherein the first frame is used for indicating resources used for link adaptation in a PPDU;

the first communication device sends a first PPDU, wherein the first PPDU comprises M link adaptive blocks, the M link adaptive blocks use different transmission parameters, the resource is used for transmitting the M link adaptive blocks, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

In this embodiment, before sending a PPDU, a first communication device may indicate, through a frame, that the PPDU is used for link adaptation, and then may send multiple link adaptation blocks in the PPDU, where transmission parameters used by different link adaptation blocks are different, so that a second communication device that receives the PPDU may measure different transmission parameters at one time and may return a better feedback result according to a measurement result. Because two communication devices can complete link adaptation through one-time interaction without carrying out multiple interactions, the link adaptation efficiency can be improved. In addition, because the number of information transmission times is reduced, transmission resources can be saved. Further, since the first frame indicates the resource for link adaptation, the second communication device can receive and measure on the indicated resource, can accurately receive the link adaptation block for link adaptation, and can improve measurement accuracy and reduce power consumption of the second communication device. In addition, since the first frame is transmitted first and the first PPDU is transmitted later, the second communication device may receive the first frame first, so that measurement preparation may be made before the first PPDU arrives according to the first frame, and thus measurement efficiency may be improved.

As a possible implementation, the communication method may further include:

the first communication equipment receives a feedback result, and the feedback result is determined according to the measurement results corresponding to the M link self-adaptive blocks;

and the first communication equipment sends the second PPDU according to the feedback result, wherein the second PPDU is used for data transmission.

As one possible implementation, the first frame may include a station information field (STA information field), and the station information field may include a partial bandwidth information subfield (partial bandwidth information field), and the partial bandwidth information field may indicate resources for link adaptation of a station to which the station information field corresponds.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first communication device may indicate, through a sub-field of partial bandwidth information included in a station information field in the first frame, resources, which are used for link adaptation, of a corresponding station, may indicate a station that needs link adaptation, and may avoid a situation in which a station that does not need link adaptation considers that link adaptation is needed.

As one possible implementation, the first frame may include a common field, which may indicate resources for link adaptation in the PPDU.

In the embodiment of the application, under the condition that a plurality of sites all need link adaptation, indication can be performed through the common field in the first frame, so that the number of indication information can be reduced, transmission resources can be saved, and the information utilization rate can be improved.

As a possible implementation, the resource unit allocation subfield indication corresponding to the resource in the first PPDU corresponds to 0 user field.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the first frame already indicates a resource used for link adaptation in a PPDU, an RU allocation subfield in the PPDU may not indicate any more, that is, a user field corresponding to the RU allocation subfield is 0, so that overhead may be saved and new signaling design in the PPDU may be avoided.

A fourth aspect discloses a communication method that can be applied to a second communication device and also to a module (e.g., a chip) in the second communication device. The following description will be given taking an application to the second communication apparatus as an example. The second communication device may be an AP or an STA. The communication method may include:

the second communication equipment receives a first frame, and the first frame indicates resources used for link adaptation in a PPDU;

the second communication equipment receives a first PPDU, the first PPDU comprises M link adaptive blocks, the M link adaptive blocks use different transmission parameters, the resource is used for transmitting the M link adaptive blocks, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1;

In the embodiment of the application, after receiving the first frame, the second communication device may measure different transmission parameters at one time, and may return a better feedback result according to the measurement result. Because two communication devices can complete link adaptation through one-time interaction without carrying out multiple interactions, the link adaptation efficiency can be improved. In addition, because the number of information transmission times is reduced, transmission resources can be saved. Further, since the first frame indicates a resource for link adaptation, the second communication device can receive and measure on the indicated resource, can accurately receive a link adaptation block for link adaptation, and can improve measurement accuracy and reduce power consumption of the second communication device. In addition, since the second communication device can receive the first frame first, so that the measurement preparation can be made before the first PPDU arrives according to the first frame, the measurement efficiency can be improved.

As a possible implementation, the communication method may further include:

As a possible implementation, the first frame may include a station information field, and the station information field may include a partial bandwidth information subfield, and the partial bandwidth sub-information field may indicate resources used by a station corresponding to the station information field for link adaptation.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the first frame already indicates resources for link adaptation in the PPDU, the RU allocation subfield in the PPDU may not indicate any more, that is, the user field corresponding to the RU allocation subfield is 0, so that overhead may be saved and new signaling design in the PPDU may be avoided.

A fifth aspect discloses a communication apparatus, which may be a first communication device, and may also be a module (e.g., a chip) in the first communication device. The communication apparatus may include:

a sending unit, configured to send a first PPDU, where the first PPDU includes indication information and M link adaptation blocks, the indication information indicates a resource used for link adaptation, the M link adaptation blocks use different transmission parameters, the resource is used for transmitting the M link adaptation blocks, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1;

and the receiving unit is used for receiving a feedback result, and the feedback result is determined according to the measurement results corresponding to the M link self-adaptive blocks.

As a possible implementation manner, the sending unit is further configured to send the second PPDU according to the feedback result.

one or more of a first bit, a first user field, a punctured channel information field in the U-SIG, an RU allocation subfield, a bitmap, and an index of the MCS. The first bit may be a validation bit or a don't care bit. The bitmap may be carried in the U-SIG or the EHT-SIG, the STA-ID included in the first user field is a specific STA-ID, and the MCS is not available in the OFDMA transmission mode.

A sixth aspect discloses a communication apparatus, which may be a second communication device or a module (e.g., a chip) in the second communication device. The communication apparatus may include:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a first PPDU, where the first PPDU includes indication information and M link adaptation blocks, the indication information indicates a resource used for link adaptation, the M link adaptation blocks use different transmission parameters, the resource is used for transmitting the M link adaptation blocks, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1;

and the sending unit is used for sending a feedback result, and the feedback result is determined according to the measurement results corresponding to the M link self-adaptive blocks.

As a possible implementation, the communication device may further include:

a measuring unit, configured to measure the M link adaptation blocks through the resource;

and the determining unit is used for determining a feedback result according to the measurement result.

A seventh aspect discloses a communication apparatus, which may be a first communication device or a module (e.g., a chip) in the first communication device. The communication apparatus may include:

a sending unit, configured to send a first frame, where the first frame is used to indicate resources used for link adaptation in a PPDU;

and the sending unit is further configured to send a first PPDU, where the first PPDU includes M link adaptation blocks, where transmission parameters used by the M link adaptation blocks are different, the resource is used to transmit the M link adaptation blocks, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

As a possible implementation, the communication device may further include:

the receiving unit is used for receiving a feedback result, and the feedback result is determined according to the measurement results corresponding to the M link self-adaptive blocks;

and the sending unit is also used for sending a second PPDU according to the feedback result, and the second PPDU is used for data transmission.

An eighth aspect discloses a communication apparatus, which may be a second communication device, or may be a module (e.g., a chip) in the second communication device. The communication apparatus may include:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a first frame, where the first frame indicates a resource for link adaptation in a PPDU;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a first PPDU, where the first PPDU includes M link adaptation blocks, where transmission parameters used by the M link adaptation blocks are different, the resource is used to transmit the M link adaptation blocks, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1;

As a possible implementation, the communication device may further include:

and the determining unit is used for determining a feedback result according to the measuring result.

A ninth aspect discloses a communication device. The communication device may comprise a processor configured to cause the communication device to implement the communication method disclosed in the first aspect or any implementation of the first aspect, or to cause the communication device to implement the communication method disclosed in the third aspect or any implementation of the third aspect. Optionally, the communication device may further include a memory, and/or a transceiver, the transceiver being configured to receive information from other communication devices than the communication device and output information to other communication devices than the communication device, and when the processor executes the computer program stored in the memory, the processor is configured to execute the communication method disclosed in the first aspect or any embodiment of the first aspect, or the processor is configured to execute the communication method disclosed in the first aspect or any embodiment of the first aspect.

A tenth aspect discloses a communication apparatus. The communication device may comprise a processor for causing the communication device to implement the communication method disclosed in any of the embodiments of the second aspect or the second aspect, or for causing the communication device to implement the communication method disclosed in any of the embodiments of the fourth aspect or the fourth aspect. Optionally, the communication device may further include a memory, and/or a transceiver, the transceiver being configured to receive information from other communication devices than the communication device and output information to other communication devices than the communication device, and when the processor executes the computer program stored in the memory, the processor is configured to execute the communication method disclosed in any of the second aspect or the second aspect, or the processor is configured to execute the communication method disclosed in any of the fourth aspect or the fourth aspect.

An eleventh aspect discloses a communication system including the communication apparatus of the ninth aspect and the communication apparatus of the tenth aspect.

A twelfth aspect discloses a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program or computer instructions which, when executed, implement the communication method as disclosed in the above aspects.

A thirteenth aspect discloses a chip comprising a processor for executing a program stored in a memory, which program, when executed, causes the chip to carry out the above method.

As a possible implementation, the memory is located off-chip.

A fourteenth aspect discloses a computer program product comprising computer program code which, when executed, causes the above-described communication method to be performed.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a MU PPDU according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a TB PPDU according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a communication method disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a flow chart illustrating another communication method disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a diagram of a first frame disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating reporting a feedback result based on a trigger frame, disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device disclosed in the embodiments of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device disclosed in the embodiments of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device disclosed in the embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The embodiment of the application discloses a communication method, a communication device and a communication system, which are used for improving the link self-adaption efficiency. The following are detailed descriptions.

For better understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the related art of the embodiments of the present application will be described below.

WLANs have been through many generations so far, such as 802.11a/b/g, 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax, and 802.11be in discussion today. The 802.11n standard may be referred to as High Throughput (HT), the 802.11ac standard may be referred to as Very High Throughput (VHT), the 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) may be referred to as High Efficiency (HE), the 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7) may be referred to as very high throughput (EHT), and the standard before HT, such as 802.11a/b/g, may be referred to as Non-high throughput (Non-HT).

The physical layer in the WLAN may transmit information through the PPDU. The uplink/downlink field and PPDU type and compressed mode field of the EHT PPDU may be as shown in table 1:

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TABLE 1

As can be seen from table 1, the format and compressed mode of the EHT PPDU may be determined according to the uplink/downlink field and the PPDU type and compressed mode field. As can be seen, the format of the EHT PPDU may be a multi-user (MU) PPDU or a trigger-based (TB) PPDU. Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an MU PPDU disclosed in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the MU PPDU may include a legacy short training field (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF), a legacy signaling field (L-SIG), a legacy signaling field repetition (RL-SIG), a general signaling field (undivided field a, U-SIG), an EHT signaling field (EHT-signfield a, EHT-SIG), a t short training field (EHT-stehf), an EHT long training field (EHT-longing field, EHT-LTF), data (data), and a data Packet Extension (PE). Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a TB PPDU disclosed in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 2, a TB PPDU may include L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG, RL-SIG, U-SIG, EHT-STF, EHT-LTF, data, and PE. It can be seen that, in the case that the format of the EHT PPDU is TB PPDU, there is no EHT-SIG in the TB PPDU. The EHT-SIG may include a common field (common), which may include a Resource Unit (RU) allocation subfield (RU allocationsubfield), and a user specific field (userspecificfield), which may include a user field (userfield). The resource unit allocation subfield is used to indicate subcarrier (tone) allocation. As can be seen from table 1 and fig. 1-2, the resource unit allocation subfield may or may not exist.

In the case where the resource unit allocation subfield exists, i.e., the EHT-SIG exists, one resource unit allocation subfield may correspond to a frequency band having a bandwidth of 20 MHz. For example, in a case where a bandwidth of the PPDU is 20MHz, the EHT-SIG may include 1 resource unit allocation subfield. For another example, in a case where the bandwidth of the PPDU is 40MHz, the EHT-SIG may include 2 resource unit allocation subfields, which may respectively represent 2 frequency bands of 20MHz from low to high. For another example, in a case where the bandwidth of the PPDU is 160MHz, the EHT-SIG may include 8 resource unit allocation subfields, which may respectively represent 8 20MHz frequency bands from low to high. For another example, in a case where the bandwidth of the PPDU is 320MHz, the EHT-SIG may include 16 resource unit allocation subfields, which may respectively represent 16 20MHz frequency bands from low to high.

In the presence of the resource unit allocation subfield, the EHT-SIG may be carried on one Content Channel (CC) for transmission in the case where the bandwidth of the PPDU is 20 MHz. Under the condition that the bandwidth of the PPDU is greater than or equal to 40MHz, the EHT-SIG can be borne on two CCs for parallel transmission, so that the EHT-SIG can be transmitted completely more quickly. For example, in case that the bandwidth of the PPDU is 160MHz, CC1 may carry 1 st, 3 rd, 5 th, 7 th 20MHz frequency bands denoted from low to high, and CC2 may carry 2 nd, 4 th, 6 th, 8 th 20MHz frequency bands denoted from low to high.

For each resource unit allocation subfield, the carried resource unit may be indicated by 9 bits in the EHT, which indicates the allocation of the resource unit on the corresponding 20MHz band and the location of the resource unit in frequency. Also, the number of user fields that this resource unit allocation subfield contributes on its corresponding content channel is indicated. In the case that more than one user field belongs to the same resource unit, then these user fields are MU-Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) user fields, indicating that the user on this RU performs MU-MIMO operation.

In the case that the resource unit includes subcarriers smaller than 242, i.e., the resource unit is a small size resource unit (smallsize RU), each resource unit can support only one user. In the case that the resource unit includes subcarriers greater than or equal to 242, that is, the resource unit is a large size resource unit (largesize RU), each resource unit can support at most 8 users. The total number of users may be summed from the number of user fields indicated by the resource unit allocation subfields for all 20MHz bands to which the resource unit corresponds. For example, in the case that a resource unit includes 242 subcarriers, the resource unit corresponds to only one resource unit allocation subfield, and the number of user fields corresponding to the resource unit allocation subfield is the number of MU-MIMO users.

It should be noted that the order in which the user fields appear in the user-specific field coincides with the order of RUs divided in the corresponding resource unit allocation subfield, and the user can identify whether the user field belongs to himself or not by reading the STA-ID in the user field, and the user can know the RU allocation situation of himself or herself by combining the position in which the user field appears and the corresponding resource unit allocation subfield. The user here may be a STA or an AP.

In the case where the resource unit allocation subfield is not present and is a non-NDP transmission, the PPDU may indicate allocation of a resource unit through a Punctured Channel Information (puncuted Channel Information) field in the U-SIG.

In the case where the resource unit allocation subfield does not exist and is an NDP transmission, a band that a corresponding station needs to measure may be indicated by a Partial bandwidth information (Partial BW Info) subfield in a station information field in an NDP announcement (NDPA) frame occurring before the NDP for subsequent feedback of a compressed beamforming/channel quality indication frame. Since the NDP does not have a data field, it can be considered that there is no resource unit for carrying data allocated to a certain station, and the resource unit allocated here can be understood as informing the corresponding station of the corresponding position of the frequency band to be measured.

The link adaptation technology is a behavior that a system adaptively adjusts a system transmission parameter according to currently acquired channel information, so as to overcome or adapt to an influence caused by current channel change. Currently, in a WLAN, an AP may tentatively adjust transmission parameters, may use the adjusted transmission parameters for transmission, and may then modify the transmission parameters according to information such as whether an ACK frame is received for the transmission, a packet error rate of the transmission, and the like.

The transmission parameters are described as MCS. The AP may make tentative adjustments to the MCS and may then re-adjust the MCS size based on whether an ACK frame is received, the packet error rate, etc. For example, in case the transmission is always successful, the level of MCS may be raised in the following transmission to enhance the transmission rate; in the case where there is a transmission failure, the level of MCS may be lowered in the following transmission to enhance transmission robustness.

In the above method, it may need to perform multiple interactions to converge the transmission parameters, so that the link adaptation efficiency is reduced.

In order to better understand a communication method, apparatus, and system disclosed in the embodiments of the present application, a network architecture used in the embodiments of the present application is described below. Referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The network structure may include one or more Access Point (AP) class stations and one or more non-access point (non-AP) class stations. For convenience of description, a station of an access point type is referred to as an Access Point (AP), and a station of a non-access point type is referred to as a Station (STA). The access point may be an access point where a terminal device (e.g., a mobile phone) enters a wired (or wireless) network, and is mainly deployed in a home, a building, and a garden, and typically has a coverage radius of several tens of meters to hundreds of meters, or may be deployed outdoors. The access point is equivalent to a bridge connected with a network and a wireless network, and is mainly used for connecting various wireless network clients together and then connecting the wireless network to the Ethernet. Specifically, the access point may be a terminal device (such as a mobile phone) or a network device (such as a router) with a Wi-Fi chip. The access point may be a device supporting 802.11be system. The access point may also be a device supporting multiple Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) systems of 802.11 families, such as 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11be next generation, etc. The access point in the present application may be a High Efficiency (HE) AP or an Extra High Throughput (EHT) AP, and may also be an access point suitable for Wi-Fi standards of a future generation.

The station can be a wireless communication chip, a wireless sensor or a wireless communication terminal, and can also be called a user. For example, the website may be a mobile phone supporting a Wi-Fi communication function, a tablet computer supporting the Wi-Fi communication function, a set top box supporting the Wi-Fi communication function, a smart television supporting the Wi-Fi communication function, a smart wearable device supporting the Wi-Fi communication function, a vehicle-mounted communication device supporting the Wi-Fi communication function, a computer supporting the Wi-Fi communication function, and the like. Alternatively, the station may support the 802.11be system. The station can also support multiple Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) systems of 802.11 families such as 802.11ax, 802.11ac, 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11be next generation, and the like.

The access point in the present application may be a High Efficiency (HE) STA or an Extra High Throughput (EHT) STA, and may also be an STA suitable for Wi-Fi standards of a future generation.

For example, the access point and the station may be devices applied to an internet of vehicles (IoT), internet of things (IoT) nodes, sensors, etc., smart cameras in smart homes, smart remote controllers, smart water meters, and sensors in smart cities.

It should be noted that the network architecture shown in fig. 3 is not limited to include only the AP and the STA shown in the figure, and may also include other APs and STAs not shown in the figure, which are not specifically listed here.

The embodiment of the present application provides a communication method applied to a Wireless communication system, where the Wireless communication system may be a Wireless local area network (Wireless local area network) or a cellular network, and the method may be implemented by a communication device in the Wireless communication system or a chip or a processor in the communication device, where the communication device may be a Wireless communication device that supports multiple links to perform transmission in parallel, for example, referred to as a Multi-link device (Multi-link device) or a Multi-band device (Multi-band device). The multi-link device has higher transmission efficiency and higher throughput than a device supporting only single link transmission.

The multilink device includes one or more subordinate stations STA (afternamed STA), which is a logical station and can work on a link. The affiliated Station may be an Access Point (AP) or a non-Access Point (non-AP STA). For convenience of description, a multi-link device whose affiliated station is an AP may be referred to as a multi-link AP or a multi-link AP device or an AP multi-link device (AP multi-link device), and a multi-link device whose affiliated station is a non-AP STA may be referred to as a multi-link STA or a multi-link STA device or an STA multi-link device (STA multi-link device).

Based on the network architecture, please refer to fig. 4, and fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 4, the communication method may include the following steps.

401. The first communication device sends the first PPDU to the second communication device.

Accordingly, the second communication device receives the first PPDU from the first communication device.

The first communication device may send the first PPDU to the second communication device when link adaptation is required. The first PPDU may include indication information and M link adaptation blocks. The indication information may indicate resources for link adaptation, which are used for transmitting the M link adaptation blocks, i.e. the indication information may indicate resources for transmitting the M link adaptation blocks. The resource may be understood as a frequency domain resource, and may correspond to an RU (i.e., a single RU), a frequency band, a Multiple Resource Unit (MRU), or other resources. The resource for link adaptation may be understood as RU, band, or MRU for link adaptation.

In the case that the resource corresponds to an RU, the resource may include one RU or may include a plurality of RUs. A resource corresponding RU can be understood as a resource in RU units. The RU can be a 26-tone RU, a 52-tone RU, a 106-tone RU, a 242-tone RU, a 484-tone RU, a 996-tone RU, or other tone RUs.

In the case that the resource corresponds to a frequency band, the resource may include one frequency band or may include a plurality of frequency bands. The resource corresponding band may be understood as a resource in a unit of a band. The frequency band may be 20MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz, other integer multiples of 20MHz, or other MHz frequency bands.

In the case that the resource corresponds to an MRU, the resource may include one MRU or a plurality of MRUs. The resource corresponding MRU may be understood as a resource in units of MRU. The MRU can be 52-tone +26-tone MRU, can also be 106-tone +26-tone MRU, and can also be MRU including other two or more tones.

The indication information may be one or more of a first bit, a first user field, a punctured channel information field in the U-SIG, a resource unit allocation subfield, a bitmap, and an index of the MCS.

The first bit may be a validation bit (validatebit) which belongs to a reserved bit (reservedbit). In existing protocols, subsequent interpretations may be stopped after the verification bit is found to be inconsistent. In the present application, after the verification bits are found to be inconsistent, not only the subsequent interpretation can be stopped, but also the first PPDU can be indicated for link adaptation. The first bit may also be a dismissal bit (dismardbitbit), which continues to be read regardless of whether the value of the dismissal bit is 0 or 1, i.e., the dismissal bit is ignored. When the first bit is in the don't care bit, the first PPDU may be indicated for link adaptation with the don't care bit defined in the original protocol. For example, when the bit is 0, it indicates that the first PPDU is used for link adaptation, or, when the bit is 1, it indicates that the first PPDU is used for link adaptation. The first bit may be carried in the U-SIG, may also be carried in the EHT-SIG, or may also be carried in another part of the first PPDU. For example, the first bit may be carried in the L-SIG.

The first user field and the second user field are both user fields and both comprise STA-IDs, but the STA-ID comprised by the first user field is a specific STA-ID which is not the STA-ID specified in the existing communication protocol and indicates different types of communication equipment (namely users), and the STA-ID can be understood as the STA-ID which is not defined in the existing protocol. And the STA-ID included in the second user field is an STA-ID of a communication device (i.e., a user) for link adaptation, i.e., the STA-ID included in the second user field is not only an STA-ID of the communication device but also the communication device for link adaptation. The STA-ID may include 11 bits and may be a value of 0 to 2047. Since 0, 2045, 2046, and 2047 already have unique meanings, the specific STA-ID may be a value in 1-2044.

It should be understood that the first user field and the second user field are both user fields corresponding to the above resources.

In the case where the resource corresponds to an RU, the first user field may be located in a user field corresponding to the RU. The user field corresponding to the RU may be located in the content channel corresponding to the RU. The resource may include one RU, and may include one or more first user fields in a user field corresponding to the one RU. In the case that there is a first user field in the user field corresponding to an RU, the first user field may be located in the first user field in the user field corresponding to the RU, may be located in the last user field in the user field corresponding to the RU, and may also be located in other positions in the user field corresponding to the RU, such as in the middle user field in the user field corresponding to the RU. In the case that there are multiple first user fields in the user field corresponding to one RU, the multiple first user fields may be continuous, i.e. adjacent, or discontinuous. The number of content channels corresponding to the RU may be one or more.

In addition, in order to improve resource utilization, the first user field may further include common information required by link adaptation users, and similarly, the second user field may further include configuration information used by a single user for link adaptation. It can be seen that the first user field includes common information that can be used by multiple users for link adaptation, while the second user field includes configuration information that can only be used by one user for link adaptation. The common information in the first user field and the configuration information in the second user field may include one or more of spatial stream information, beamforming information, MCS information, feedback type mode information, measurement sequence information, resource allocation information, power information, and measurement accuracy information. The spatial stream information may include a start position, number, etc. of the spatial streams. The beamforming information may include weight matrix information and the like. The MCS information may include a configuration of the MCS. The feedback type mode information may include information that requires feedback. The resource allocation information may include information of the allocated resources. The power information may include information of power used for link adaptation. The measurement accuracy information may include a range of the feedback result, and the like. For example, the first user field may carry a common configuration of an MCS, and the second user field corresponding to the second communication device may carry an MCS range measured by the second communication device, a fed-back MCS range, and the like.

For example, in case the user field includes MCS information, the user field may be as shown in table 2:

TABLE 2

It should be understood that table 2 is merely illustrative of the user field and is not limiting. In case a longer user information field is needed, the information can be increased by merging the user fields. For example, the same two STA-IDs are used to indicate that the next user field still belongs to the user, so that there may be (22-11) × 2=22 fields for MCS indication in total, which may be used for more flexible MCS measurement indication. The MCS used by the following link adaptation block may be indicated by means of an MCS bit map. 16 bits may be used to indicate the MCS that the link adapts for use quickly. These 16 bits may indicate the use of 16 MCS from 0-15 in table 3 in sequence from left to right. For example, in the case where there are four link adaptation blocks with a 16-bit value of 1110001000000000, if 1 indicates for link adaptation, the indexes of the MCS used by the four link adaptation blocks may be indicated as 0, 1, 2, and 6, respectively. Similarly, the 16 bits can also sequentially indicate the use cases of 16 MCSs from 0 to 15 in table 3 from right to left. For example, in the case where there are four link adaptation blocks with a 16-bit value of 1110001000000000, if 1 indicates for link adaptation, the indexes of the MCS that can indicate that there are four link adaptation blocks are 9, 13, 14, 15, respectively. In addition, for the adjustment of the MCS, indication information for indicating the resource size occupied by one link adaptation block may also be carried. For example, this may indicate information that each link adaptation block occupies n Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols.

For example, beamforming is further used below, at this time, different link adaptation blocks may be subjected to different beamforming, and the second communication device may feed back that the several link adaptation blocks have a good receiving effect. For another example, from a power perspective, the link adaptation block may be composed of multiple streams, the power allocated to each stream in different link adaptation blocks may be different, and similarly, the station may feed back that the several link adaptation blocks have a good receiving effect.

A bitmap is a sequence of bits consisting of a plurality of bits. The bitmap may be located (or carried) in the U-SIG, may be located (or carried) in the EHT-SIG, or may be located (or carried) in another part of the PPDU. In the case where the first PPDU is used for both link adaptation and data transmission, the bitmap is used to indicate frequency bands indicated by respective bits in the bitmap for link adaptation or for data transmission, i.e., the bitmap may indicate not only frequency bands used for link adaptation but also frequency bands used for data transmission. For example, the bit map may include 16 bits, and in a case where the bandwidth of the first PPDU is 20MHz, only the first bit of the 16 bits may be a valid bit; in the case that the bandwidth of the first PPDU is 40MHz, only the first two bits of the 16 bits may be valid bits before; in case that the bandwidth of the first PPDU is 80MHz, only the first four bits of the 16 bits may be valid bits ahead. It can be seen that 1 bit in the bitmap can correspond to a 20MHz band. For example, in the case that the value of a valid bit is 0, the valid bit may indicate that the frequency band corresponding to the valid bit is used for link adaptation, and in the case that the value of the valid bit is 1, the valid bit may indicate that the frequency band corresponding to the valid bit is used for data transmission. For another example, in a case that a valid bit has a value of 1, the valid bit may indicate that a frequency band corresponding to the valid bit is used for link adaptation, and in a case that the valid bit has a value of 0, the valid bit may indicate that the frequency band corresponding to the valid bit is used for data transmission. In case the first PPDU is used for link adaptation only, the bitmap may indicate a frequency band used for link adaptation. For example, in the case where the values of the valid bits in the bitmap are both 0 (or 1), the bitmap may indicate that the first PPDU is used only for link adaptation. It should be understood that the above is only an exemplary illustration of the bitmap and is not limiting to the bitmap. For example, one bit in the bitmap may correspond to a frequency band of 40MHz, may correspond to a frequency band of 80MHz, and may correspond to other frequency bands that are integer multiples of 20 MHz. For another example, the bitmap may include 2 bits, 3 bits, 4 bits, and other numbers of bits.

Since some MCS are not available in some cases, an index of these MCS may be utilized in the user field to indicate. The MCS in EHT may be as shown in table 3:

TABLE 3

For example, in OFDMA mode, the MCS may be MCS14.

As shown in table 1, in the case that the uplink/downlink field in the U-SIG field included in the first PPDU is 0, and the PPDU type and the compressed mode field are 1, the transmission mode of the first PPDU may be a single-user transmission mode; the transmission mode of the first PPDU may be a single-user transmission mode in a case that an uplink/downlink field in a U-SIG field included in the first PPDU is 1 and a PPDU type and compressed mode field are 1; in the case where the uplink/downlink field of the U-SIG field included in the first PPDU is 0, the PPDU type and compressed mode field is 0, and the total number of user fields is 1, the transmission mode of the first PPDU may be a single-user transmission mode. In case that the transmission mode of the first PPDU is a single-user transmission mode, the first PPDU includes only one user field. In case the transmission mode of the first PPDU is a single-user transmission mode and the first PPDU is used only for link adaptation, this user field is the second user field. The resource corresponds to the user field, that is, the resource performs link adaptation for the user corresponding to the user field. Originally, the type of the user field is a non- (non) -MU-MIMO type, but since the indication information indicates resources for link adaptation, that is, indicates that the user corresponding to the user field performs link adaptation, the type of the user field is converted from the non-MU-MIMO type to the link adaptation type, and therefore, the second communication device can interpret the user field according to the link adaptation type. In this case, the indication information may be as follows.

In one case, the indication information may be a punctured information field in the U-SIG. For example, in the case that the punctured information field in the U-SIG is a first value, the punctured information field in the U-SIG may indicate resources for link adaptation, which may be understood as that the first PPDU is used for link adaptation, and the resources indicated by the first PPDU are resources for link adaptation. In case that the SAT-ID of the communication device receiving the first PPDU is the same as the STA-ID included in this user field, if this communication device reads out the punctured channel information field in the U-SIG as the first value, the second communication device may perform link adaptation through the resource indicated by the indication information.

In another case, the indication information may be a first bit. The first bit may indicate a resource for link adaptation, which may be understood as the first PPDU being used for link adaptation and the resource indicated by the first PPDU being a resource for link adaptation. For example, in case that the first bit is 1, the first bit may indicate resources for link adaptation. For another example, in case the first bit is 0, the first bit may indicate a resource for link adaptation. It can be seen that the first PPDU may be indicated by one bit for link adaptation and the resource indicated by the first PPDU is a resource for link adaptation.

In yet another case, the indication information may also be a punctured channel information field and a first bit in the U-SIG. For example, in the case where the punctured information field in the U-SIG is a second value and the first bit is 1 (or 0), resources for link adaptation may be indicated.

The first PPDU may be transmitted in a broadcast form. At this time, the indication information may be a first user field. If the transmission mode of the first PPDU is the single-user transmission mode and the first PPDU is only used for link adaptation, all the second communication devices capable of receiving the first PPDU may perform step 402 according to the first PPDU. In a case where the transmission mode of the first PPDU is MU MIMO and the first PPDU is used for link adaptation and data transmission, in one case, a second communication device that is not allocated with data among second communication devices that can receive the first PPDU may perform step 402 according to the first PPDU; in another case, the second communication devices other than the second communication device designated to perform link adaptation on a certain resource unit among the second communication devices capable of receiving the first PPDU may perform step 402 according to the first PPDU.

As shown in table 1, in the case where an uplink/downlink field in a U-SIG field included in the first PPDU is 0, and a PPDU type and compressed mode field is 0 or 2, a transmission mode of the first PPDU may be an MU MIMO transmission mode. In case that the transmission mode of the first PPDU is the MU MIMO transmission mode, the first PPDU may include a plurality of user fields. And under the condition that the transmission mode of the first PPDU is the MU MIMO transmission mode and the first PPDU is only used for link adaptation, the resources correspond to the plurality of user fields. In a case where the first PPDU does not include the first user field, the plurality of user fields are all the second user fields. In case that the first PPDU includes the first user field, all of the user fields except the first user field among the plurality of user fields are the second user field. The type of the second user field is originally the MU-MIMO type, but since the indication information indicates the resource for link adaptation, that is, indicates the user corresponding to the second user field to be used for link adaptation, the type of the second user field is converted from the MU-MIMO type to the link adaptation type. In this case, the indication information may be as follows.

In one case, the indication information may be a punctured channel information field in the U-SIG. In another case, the indication information may be a first bit. In yet another case, the indication information may be a punctured information field and a first bit in the U-SIG. For a detailed description of these several cases, reference may be made to the above description.

In yet another case, the indication information may be a first user field. The first user field may indicate that the first PPDU is used for link adaptation, and the resources indicated by the first PPDU are resources used for link adaptation. For example, in a case that the second communication device detects that the first PPDU includes the second user field corresponding to the second communication device and includes the first user field, the second communication device may perform step 402 according to the second user field corresponding to the second communication device and the RU corresponding to the second communication device.

In yet another case, the indication information may be a punctured information field in the U-SIG and the first user field. For example, in a case where the first PPDU includes a first user field and the punctured channel information field in the U-SIG is a third value, the first user field and the punctured channel information field in the U-SIG may indicate resources for link adaptation.

It is to be understood that the first, second, and third values may be values of 0-31 in the case where the puncturing information field in the U-SIG includes 5 bits. The channel puncturing mode indicated by the puncturing information field in the U-SIG in the existing protocol may be multiplexed and indicated to perform link adaptation in the channel puncturing mode, and it can be understood that the channel puncturing mode at this time may be regarded as indicating resources for link adaptation.

In yet another case, the indication information may also be the first bit and the first user field. For example, in a case where the first PPDU includes a first user field and a bit corresponding to the first bit is 1 (or 0), the first bit and the first user field may indicate resources for link adaptation.

In yet another case, the indication information may be an index of the MCS. For example, in case that the index of the MCS is a fourth value, the index of the MCS may indicate resources for link adaptation. In yet another case, the indication information may be an index of the MCS and a puncture information field in the U-SIG. In yet another case, the indication information may be an index of the MCS and the first bit. In yet another case, the indication information may be an index of the MCS and the first user field. In yet another case, the indication information may be a punctured information field, a first bit, and a first user field in the U-SIG. In yet another case, the indication information may be an index of the punctured information field, the first bit, and the MCS. In yet another case, the indication information may be an index of the first bit, the first user field, and the MCS. In yet another case, the indication information may be an index of the tunneling information field, the first user field, and the MCS.

As shown in table 1, in the case where the uplink/downlink field in the U-SIG field included in the first PPDU is 0, and the PPDU type and compressed mode field are 0, the transmission mode of the first PPDU may be an OFDMA transmission mode. In case that the transmission mode of the first PPDU is an OFDMA transmission mode, the first PPDU may include one user field or may include a plurality of user fields. When the transmission mode of the first PPDU is an OFDMA transmission mode and the first PPDU is used for link adaptation and data transmission, the resources may correspond to one user field or a plurality of user fields. And under the condition that the first PPDU does not comprise the first user field, the user fields corresponding to the resources are all second user fields. And under the condition that the first PPDU comprises the first user field, all the user fields except the first user field in the user fields corresponding to the resources are the second user fields. Originally, the type of the second user field is a non-MU-MIMO type or a MU-MIMO type, but since the indication information indicates resources for link adaptation, the type of the second user field is converted from the non-MU-MIMO type or the MU-MIMO type to the link adaptation type. In this case, the indication information may be as follows.

In one case, the indication information may be a bitmap. The bitmap may indicate frequency bands indicated by respective bits in the bitmap for link adaptation or for data transmission, and the detailed description may refer to the above description of the bitmap.

In another case, the indication information may be the first user field. The first user field may indicate that the first PPDU is used for link adaptation, and may indicate that an RU corresponding to the first user field is a resource for link adaptation. It should be understood that the user fields except the first user field in the user field corresponding to the RU corresponding to the first user field are the second user field. For example, in the case that the RU to which the first user field corresponds to two user fields, one of the two user fields is the first user field for indicating that this RU is used for link adaptation, and the other of the two user fields is the second user field.

In yet another case, the indication information may allocate a sub-field and a first user field for the resource unit. For example, the first user field may indicate that the first PPDU is used for link adaptation and the resource unit allocation subfield may indicate resources used for link adaptation.

In yet another case, the indication information may also allocate a subfield and a bitmap for the resource unit. The bitmap may indicate, with coarse granularity, frequency bands for link adaptation or for data transmission, and the resource unit allocation subfield may specifically indicate resources for link adaptation. For example, assuming that the bitmap includes 4 bits, each bit may correspond to a frequency band of 80MHz, if a STA is allocated an RU of 484-tone for link adaptation on the first frequency band of 80MHz, in the case that link adaptation is indicated using 1, the bitmap may be 1000, the bitmap may indicate the first frequency band of 80MHz for link adaptation, the first frequency band of 80MHz corresponds to the first resource allocation subfield of the resource allocation subfields, and the first resource allocation subfield may indicate that the 484-tone RU is used for link adaptation. In yet another case, the indication information may also be a bitmap and a first user field. In one possibility, the first user field is used to indicate that the first PPDU is used for link adaptation and the bitmap is used to indicate resources used for link adaptation. Another possibility is that the bitmap may indicate the frequency band used for link adaptation or for data transmission with coarse granularity, and the first user field may specifically indicate the resources used for link adaptation. For example, assuming that the bitmap includes 4 bits, each bit may correspond to a frequency band of 80MHz, if an RU of 484-tone is allocated on the first frequency band of 80MHz for a certain STA for link adaptation, in the case that 1 is used to indicate link adaptation, the bitmap may be 1000, the bitmap may indicate the first frequency band of 80MHz for link adaptation, the first frequency band of 80MHz corresponds to the first resource allocation subfield in the resource allocation subfield, and the first user field may indicate that the 484-tone RU is used for link adaptation.

It should be understood that, in the case that the first PPDU does not include the first user field, all the user fields corresponding to the resource indicated by the indication information are the second user fields. And under the condition that the first PPDU comprises the first user field, all the user fields except the first user field in the user fields corresponding to the resources indicated by the indication information are second user fields. Therefore, in the case that the resource corresponds to an RU, and the number of user fields corresponding to the RU is greater than 1, the number of the second user fields corresponding to the RU is the difference between the number of user fields corresponding to the RU (i.e., the total number of user fields) and the number of the first user fields corresponding to the RU. The information carried by different second user fields may be the same or different.

It should be understood that the above tone may be replaced with a subcarrier (subcarrier).

It should be understood that the above interpretation of different indication information is only one or more exemplary illustrations of interpretation of the indication information, and the interpretation of the indication information is not limited, and other interpretation manners are also possible.

Conventionally, only 1 to 8 user fields are supported on a resource unit, because too many user fields on this resource unit indicate too many user fields for simultaneous MU-MIMO, and it is not necessary to support that many users. In the case of link adaptation, the number of user fields for interpreting a corresponding resource unit may not be limited, so that the number of user fields corresponding to the resource unit in this case is equal to the sum of the number of user fields indicated by all resource unit allocation subfields corresponding to the resource unit, and the value is allowed to be greater than 8.

The M link adaptation blocks use different transmission parameters. The transmission parameters may include one or more of MCS, beamforming, measurement sequences, spatial streams, and power. When the transmission parameter includes a plurality of transmission parameters, the transmission parameter may be different for some transmission parameters or may be different for all transmissions. For example, the first link adaptation block uses MCS1, power 1, and the second link adaptation block uses MCS2, power 1. For another example, the first link adaptation block uses MCS1 and power 1, and the second link adaptation block uses MCS2 and power 2. The resources are used for transmitting M link adaptation blocks, and may be understood as that M link adaptation blocks are transmitted through the resources. M is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

402. And the second communication equipment sends the feedback result to the first communication equipment.

Accordingly, the first communication device receives a feedback result from the second communication device.

The second communication device receives the first PPDU from the first communication device, and may send a feedback result to the first communication device, where the feedback result may be determined according to measurement results corresponding to the M link adaptation blocks. The feedback result may be fed back through the PPDU.

The second communication device may measure the M link adaptation blocks through the resource, that is, may receive the M link adaptation blocks on the resource and measure the M link adaptation blocks. The measurement may be one or more of a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), a Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), a Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), a signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR), and the like.

The second communication device may then determine a feedback result from the measurement result. The second communication device may choose one or more of the larger transmission parameters RSRP, RSRQ, RSSI, SINR, etc. For example, one or more MCSs larger than one or more of RSRP, RSRQ, RSSI, SINR, etc. may be selected.

After receiving the feedback result from the second communication device, the first communication device may transmit the second PPDU to the second communication device according to the feedback result. Accordingly, the second communication device receives the second PPDU from the first communication device. The second PPDU is a PPDU for data transmission.

In one case, the first communication device and the second communication device may both be APs. In another case, the first communication device and the second communication device may both be STAs. In yet another case, the first communication device may be an AP and the second communication device may be a STA. In yet another case, the first communication device may be a STA and the second communication device may be an AP.

It should be understood that the second communication device may borrow HE Link Adaptation (LA) (HE LA, HLA) -control feedback results in a-control (control).

It should be understood that the first PPDU may include M indication information and M link adaptation blocks, the M indication information corresponding to the M link adaptation blocks one to one. One of the M indication information may indicate transmission resources of one of the M link adaptation blocks, i.e., one indication information may indicate transmission resources of one link adaptation block.

It should be understood that the above resources may be replaced by an RU as an MRU, or by an RU as a frequency band.

It should be understood that the first user field may indicate that the user fields other than the first user field in the user fields corresponding to the above resources are the second user field, i.e., the user field for link adaptation. While the first user field itself is not used for link adaptation.

Based on the network architecture, please refer to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating another communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 5, the communication method may include the following steps.

501. The first communication device transmits a first frame to the second communication device.

Accordingly, the second communication device receives the first frame from the first communication device.

The first communication device may first send a first frame to the second communication device when link adaptation is required. The first frame may indicate resources for link adaptation in a PPDU, that is, may indicate resources for link adaptation in a PPDU to be transmitted next, that is, may indicate resources for link adaptation in a PPDU spaced apart from the first frame by a short frame gap (SIFS). The detailed description of the resource may refer to step 401.

Referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a first frame according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 6, the first frame may include a common field (common) and a station information field (STA information field). The number of the station information fields may be one or more. The station information field may include a partial bandwidth information subfield.

It should be understood that fig. 6 is only an exemplary illustration of the first frame and does not constitute a limitation on the first frame. For example, the first frame may further include one or more fields of a frame control (frame control) field, a duration (duration) field, a received address (receivaddress) field, a transmitted address (transmitdress) field, a Frame Check Sequence (FCS) field, and the like.

In one case, different communication devices may indicate by way of a partial bandwidth information subfield in a station information field to which the different communication devices correspond. That is, the first frame may include a station information field, which may include a partial bandwidth info subfield that may indicate resources used by the station to which the station information field corresponds for link adaptation. One or more site information fields having the above-described indication function may be provided. The second communication device, which is capable of receiving the first frame, of the second communication devices whose first frame includes the corresponding station information field may perform the step of step 503 according to the first frame and the first PPDU. In the case where the first frame does not include the corresponding station information field, the second communication device cannot perform the step of step 503 according to the first frame and the first PPDU.

In another case, different communication devices may be indicated by a common field. The first frame may include a common field, which may indicate resources in the PPDU for link adaptation. The second communication devices capable of receiving the first frame may each perform the steps of step 503 based on the first frame and the first PPDU.

502. The first communication device transmits the first PPDU to the second communication device.

The first PPDU comprises M link adaptation blocks, the M link adaptation blocks use different transmission parameters, and resources are used for transmitting the M link adaptation blocks. Since the first frame already indicates resources for link adaptation, the resource unit allocation subfield in the first PPDU may no longer carry indication information dedicated to indicating link adaptation. At this time, the resource unit allocation subfield indication corresponding to the above resources in the first PPDU corresponds to 0 user fields.

For example, in case that the second 20MHz band of the first PPDU is used for link adaptation, the resource unit allocation subfield of the first PPDU corresponding to the 20MHz band may be denoted by 242 (0). Where 242 (0) indicates that the resource unit does not have a corresponding user field, it can be considered a fraudulent operation. In EHT, there are three index types corresponding to 0 user fields, one indicating that 0 user fields are corresponding because a channel is punctured, another indicating that 0 user fields are corresponding because no user is allocated, and yet another indicating that 0 user fields are contributed by the corresponding content channel. The indication of which corresponding 0 user field is used is not limited herein.

The first PPDU may further include indication information for indicating that the first PPDU is used for data transmission.

Wherein, the related description in step 401 may be referred to for other related detailed descriptions.

503. And the second communication equipment sends the feedback result to the first communication equipment.

The second communication device receives the first frame and the first PPDU from the first communication device, and may send a feedback result to the first communication device, where the feedback result is determined according to the measurement results corresponding to the M link adaptation blocks. The feedback result may be transmitted through the PPDU.

Wherein, other relevant detailed descriptions can refer to the relevant description in step 402.

In one case, after the second communication device determines the feedback result, the feedback result may be directly transmitted to the first communication device. In another case, after the second communication device determines the feedback result, the second communication device may send the feedback result to the first communication device after receiving a trigger frame for triggering link adaptation from the first communication device.

Referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating reporting of a feedback result based on a trigger frame according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 7, after the STA for data transmission receives the first frame and the first PPDU, the STA may directly respond; after the STA for link adaptation receives the first frame and the first PPDU, it needs to wait until receiving a trigger frame from the AP, after which the STA can respond. It should be understood that the above examples of triggering the report of the feedback result through the trigger frame are only illustrative and not limiting.

It should be understood that the flow of feeding back the feedback result after the second communication device receives the first PPDU is not limited.

It should be understood that the above description of operation in various modes is by way of example only and is not limited to being necessary for a certain mode or PPDU. The general idea is that: the sending end device indicates, by using the indication information, that the type of the user field (the user field except the first user field) corresponding to the resource indicated by the receiving end device is the link adaptation type.

It should be understood that the functions performed by the first communication device in the above-described communication method may also be performed by a module (e.g., a chip) in the first communication device, and the functions performed by the second communication device in the above-described communication method may also be performed by a module (e.g., a chip) in the second communication device.

Based on the network architecture, please refer to fig. 8, fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 8, the communication apparatus may include a receiving unit 801 and a transmitting unit 802.

In one case, the communication device may be the first communication apparatus, and may also be a module (e.g., a chip) in the first communication apparatus. Wherein:

a sending unit 802, configured to send a first PPDU, where the first PPDU includes indication information and M link adaptation blocks, the indication information indicates a resource used for link adaptation, the M link adaptation blocks use different transmission parameters, the resource is used for transmitting the M link adaptation blocks, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1;

a receiving unit 801, configured to receive a feedback result, where the feedback result is determined according to measurement results corresponding to the M link adaptation blocks.

In an embodiment, the sending unit 802 is further configured to send the second PPDU according to the feedback result.

In one embodiment, the indication information may be carried in one or more of the following:

one or more of the first bit, the first user field, a punctured channel information field in the U-SIG, an RU allocation subfield, a bitmap bit, and an index of the MCS. The first bit may be a verification bit or a don't care bit. The bitmap may be carried in the U-SIG or the EHT-SIG, the STA-ID included in the first user field is a specific STA-ID, and the MCS is not available in the OFDMA transmission mode.

In one embodiment, the bitmap may indicate whether the frequency bands indicated by the bits in the bitmap are used for link adaptation or data transmission.

In one embodiment, in the case that the resource corresponds to an RU, the first user field is located in a first one of the user fields corresponding to the RU, and the user field corresponding to the RU is located in a content channel corresponding to the RU.

In one embodiment, the first user field may further include one or more of spatial stream information, beamforming information, MCS information, feedback type mode information, measurement sequence information, resource allocation information, power information, and measurement accuracy information.

In one embodiment, in a case that the resource corresponds to an RU, and the number of user fields corresponding to the RU is greater than 1, the number of second user fields corresponding to the RU is a difference between the number of user fields corresponding to the RU and the number of first user fields corresponding to the RU, and the STA-ID included in the second user fields is an STA-ID of a communication device for link adaptation.

In one embodiment, the transmission parameters include one or more of MCS, beamforming, measurement sequences, spatial streams, and power.

The more detailed description about the receiving unit 801 and the sending unit 802 may be obtained directly by referring to the related description of the first communication device in the method embodiment shown in fig. 4, which is not repeated herein.

In another case, the communication device may be the first communication device, and may also be a module (e.g., a chip) in the first communication device. Wherein:

a sending unit 802, configured to send a first frame, where the first frame is used to indicate resources used for link adaptation in a PPDU;

the sending unit 802 is further configured to send a first PPDU, where the first PPDU includes M link adaptation blocks, where transmission parameters used by the M link adaptation blocks are different, the resource is used to transmit the M link adaptation blocks, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

In an embodiment, the receiving unit 801 is configured to receive a feedback result, where the feedback result is determined according to measurement results corresponding to the M link adaptation blocks;

the sending unit 802 is further configured to send a second PPDU according to the feedback result, where the second PPDU is used for data transmission.

In one embodiment, the first frame may include a station information field, and the station information field may include a partial bandwidth information subfield, and the partial bandwidth sub-information field may indicate resources for link adaptation by a station to which the station information field corresponds.

In one embodiment, the first frame may include a common field, which may indicate resources for link adaptation in the PPDU.

In one embodiment, the resource unit allocation subfield indication corresponding to the resource in the first PPDU corresponds to 0 user field.

More detailed descriptions about the receiving unit 801 and the sending unit 802 can be directly obtained by referring to the description about the first communication device in the method embodiment shown in fig. 5, which is not repeated herein.

Based on the network architecture, please refer to fig. 9, and fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device disclosed in the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 9, the communication apparatus may include a receiving unit 901 and a transmitting unit 902. The communication device may further comprise a measurement unit 903 and a determination unit 904.

In one case, the communication device may be the second communication apparatus, and may also be a module (e.g., a chip) in the second communication apparatus. Wherein:

a receiving unit 901, configured to receive a first PPDU, where the first PPDU includes indication information and M link adaptation blocks, the indication information indicates resources used for link adaptation, the M link adaptation blocks use different transmission parameters, the resources are used for transmitting the M link adaptation blocks, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1;

a sending unit 902, configured to send a feedback result, where the feedback result is determined according to measurement results corresponding to the M link adaptation blocks.

In one embodiment, the measurement unit 903 is configured to measure the M link adaptation blocks through the resource;

a determining unit 904 for determining a feedback result according to the measurement result.

More detailed descriptions about the receiving unit 901, the sending unit 902, the measuring unit 903, and the determining unit 904 may be directly obtained by referring to the description about the second communication device in the embodiment of the method shown in fig. 4, which is not described herein again.

In another case, the communication apparatus may be the second communication device, and may also be a module (e.g., a chip) in the second communication device. Wherein:

a receiving unit 901, configured to receive a first frame, where the first frame indicates a resource used for link adaptation in a PPDU;

a receiving unit 901, further configured to receive a first PPDU, where the first PPDU includes M link adaptation blocks, where transmission parameters used by the M link adaptation blocks are different, the resource is used to transmit the M link adaptation blocks, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1;

More detailed descriptions about the receiving unit 901, the sending unit 902, the measuring unit 903, and the determining unit 904 may be directly obtained by referring to the description about the second communication device in the embodiment of the method shown in fig. 5, which is not described herein again.

It should be understood that the above units may be independent or integrated together. For example, the receiving unit and the unit may be independent, or may be integrated into a transmitting/receiving unit. For another example, the measurement unit and the determination unit may be independent or integrated as a processing unit.

Referring to fig. 10, fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 10, the communication device may include a processor 1001, a memory 1002, a transceiver 1003, and a bus 1004. The memory 1002 may be separate and may be connected to the processor 1001 by a bus 1004. The memory 1002 may also be integrated with the processor 1001. A bus 1004 is used to enable connection among these components. In one case, as shown in fig. 10, the transceiver 1003 can include a transmitter 10031, a receiver 10032, and an antenna 10033. In another case, the transceiver 1003 may include a transmitter (i.e., an output interface) and a receiver (i.e., an input interface). The transmitter may include a transmitter and an antenna, and the receiver may include a receiver and an antenna.

The communication device may be the first communication device, or may be a module in the first communication device. When the computer program instructions stored in the memory 1002 are executed, the processor 1001 is configured to control the receiving unit 801 and the transmitting unit 802 to perform the operations performed in the above-described embodiments, and the transceiver 1003 is configured to perform the operations performed by the receiving unit 801 and the transmitting unit 802 in the above-described embodiments. The communication apparatus may also be configured to execute various methods executed by the first communication device in the method embodiments in fig. 4 to fig. 5, which are not described again.

The communication device may be the second communication device, or may be a module in the second communication device. When the computer program instructions stored in the memory 1002 are executed, the processor 1001 is configured to control the receiving unit 901 and the sending unit 902 to perform the operations performed in the above embodiments, the processor 1001 is further configured to perform the operations performed by the measuring unit 903 and the determining unit 904 in the above embodiments, and the transceiver 1003 is configured to perform the operations performed by the receiving unit 901 and the sending unit 902 in the above embodiments. The communication apparatus may also be configured to execute various methods executed by the second communication device in the method embodiments in fig. 4 to fig. 5, which are not described again.

Referring to fig. 11, fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 11, the communication device may include an input interface 1101, a logic circuit 1102, and an output interface 1103. The input interface 1101 and the output interface 1103 are connected by a logic circuit 1102. The input interface 1101 is used for receiving information from other communication devices, and the output interface 1103 is used for outputting, scheduling, or transmitting information to other communication devices. The logic circuit 1102 is configured to perform operations other than the operations of the input interface 1101 and the output interface 1103, for example, to implement the functions implemented by the processor 1001 in the above-described embodiments. The communication device may be a terminal device (or a module in the terminal device) or a network device (or a module in the network device). The more detailed description about the input interface 1101, the logic circuit 1102 and the output interface 1103 can be directly obtained by referring to the related description of the first communication device or the second communication device in the foregoing method embodiment, which is not repeated herein.

It should be understood that the above modules may be independent or integrated together. For example, the transmitter, receiver, and antenna may be separate or integrated into a transceiver. For another example, the input interface and the output interface may be independent or integrated as a communication interface.

The embodiment of the application also discloses a computer readable storage medium, wherein instructions are stored on the storage medium, and the instructions execute the method in the embodiment of the method when executed.

The embodiment of the application also discloses a computer program product comprising computer instructions, and the computer instructions are executed to execute the method in the embodiment of the method.

The embodiment of the present application further discloses a communication system, which may include a centralized controller, a route calculator and a route executor, and the communication method shown in fig. 4 to fig. 5 may be referred to in the detailed description.

The above-mentioned embodiments, objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application are further described in detail, it should be understood that the above-mentioned embodiments are only examples of the present application, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application, and any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements and the like made on the basis of the technical solutions of the present application should be included in the scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A method of communication, comprising:

sending a first physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU), wherein the first PPDU comprises indication information and M link adaptation blocks, the indication information indicates resources used for link adaptation, the M link adaptation blocks use different transmission parameters, the resources are used for transmitting the M link adaptation blocks, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1;

and receiving a feedback result, wherein the feedback result is determined according to the measurement results corresponding to the M link self-adaptive blocks.

2. A method of communication, comprising:

receiving a first physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU), wherein the first PPDU comprises indication information and M link adaptation blocks, the indication information indicates resources used for link adaptation, the M link adaptation blocks use different transmission parameters, the resources are used for transmitting the M link adaptation blocks, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1;

and sending a feedback result, wherein the feedback result is determined according to the measurement results corresponding to the M link self-adaptive blocks.

3. A communications apparatus, comprising:

a sending unit, configured to send a first physical layer protocol data unit PPDU, where the first PPDU includes indication information and M link adaptation blocks, where the indication information indicates a resource used for link adaptation, the M link adaptation blocks use different transmission parameters, the resource is used for transmitting the M link adaptation blocks, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1;

4. A communications apparatus, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a first physical layer protocol data unit PPDU, where the first PPDU includes indication information and M link adaptation blocks, where the indication information indicates a resource used for link adaptation, where transmission parameters used by the M link adaptation blocks are different, the resource is used for transmitting the M link adaptation blocks, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1;

5. The method of claim 1 or 2, or the apparatus of claim 3 or 4, wherein the indication information is carried in one or more of:

the method comprises the steps of obtaining a first bit, a first user field userfield, one or more of a puncture information field in a universal signaling field U-SIG, a resource unit allocation sub-field, a bitmap and an index of a modulation and coding strategy MCS, wherein the first bit is an authentication bit validatabit or an irrational bit dismgard bit, the bitmap is carried in the U-SIG or an EHT-SIG, and a station identification STA-ID included in the first user field is a specific STA-ID.

6. The method or apparatus of claim 5, wherein the bitmap is used to indicate frequency bands indicated by bits in the bitmap for link adaptation or data transmission.

7. The method or apparatus of claim 5, wherein in the case that the resource corresponds to a Resource Unit (RU), the first user field is located in a first user field of the user fields corresponding to the RU, and the user fields corresponding to the RU are located in a content channel corresponding to the RU.

8. The method or apparatus of any of claims 5-7, wherein the first user field further comprises one or more of spatial stream information, beamforming information, MCS information, feedback type mode information, measurement sequence information, resource allocation information, power information, and measurement accuracy information.

9. The method or apparatus of any of claims 5-8, wherein in a case that the resource corresponds to an RU, and the number of RU-corresponding user fields is greater than 1, the number of RU-corresponding second user fields is the difference between the number of RU-corresponding user fields and the number of RU-corresponding first user fields, and the second user fields include STA-IDs that are STA-IDs of communication devices used for link adaptation.

10. The method of any one of claims 1, 2, 5-9, or the apparatus of any one of claims 3-9, wherein the transmission parameters include one or more of MCS, beamforming, measurement sequences, spatial streams, and power.

11. A method of communication, comprising:

sending a first frame, wherein the first frame is used for indicating resources used for link adaptation in a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU);

and sending a first PPDU, wherein the first PPDU comprises M link adaptive blocks, the M link adaptive blocks use different transmission parameters, the resource is used for transmitting the M link adaptive blocks, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

12. A method of communication, comprising:

receiving a first frame indicating resources for link adaptation in a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU);

receiving a first PPDU, wherein the first PPDU comprises M link adaptive blocks, the M link adaptive blocks use different transmission parameters, the resource is used for transmitting the M link adaptive blocks, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1;

13. A communications apparatus, comprising:

a sending unit, configured to send a first frame, where the first frame is used to indicate a resource for link adaptation in a physical layer protocol data unit PPDU;

the sending unit is further configured to send a first PPDU, where the first PPDU includes M link adaptation blocks, where transmission parameters used by the M link adaptation blocks are different, the resource is used to transmit the M link adaptation blocks, and M is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

14. A communications apparatus, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a first frame, where the first frame indicates a resource for link adaptation in a physical layer protocol data unit PPDU;

15. The method of claim 11 or 12, or the apparatus of claim 13 or 14, wherein the first frame comprises a station information field comprising a partial bandwidth information subfield indicating resources used by a station to which the station information field corresponds for link adaptation.

16. The method of claim 11 or 12, or the apparatus of claim 13 or 14, wherein the first frame comprises a common field indicating resources in a PPDU for link adaptation.

17. The method of any one of claims 11, 12, 15-16, or the apparatus of any one of claims 13-16, wherein the resource unit allocation subfield indication corresponding to the resource in the first PPDU corresponds to 0 user field.

18. A communications device comprising a processor, a memory, the processor and memory coupled, the processor invoking a computer program stored in the memory to implement the method of any of claims 1, 5-10, or the method of any of claims 11, 15-17.

19. A communications device comprising a processor, a memory, the processor and memory coupled, the processor invoking a computer program stored in the memory to implement the method of any one of claims 2, 5-10, or the method of any one of claims 12, 15-17.

20. A communication system comprising an apparatus according to claim 18 and an apparatus according to claim 19.

21. A computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program or computer instructions are stored which, when executed, implement the method of any one of claims 1-2, 5-10, 11-12, 15-17.

22. A computer program product, characterized in that the computer program product comprises computer program code which, when executed, implements the method according to any one of claims 1-2, 5-10, 11-12, 15-17.

23. A chip comprising a processor for executing a program stored in a memory, which program, when executed, causes the chip to perform the method of any of claims 1-2, 5-10, 11-12, 15-17.